Korea vs Indonesia (QC etc.)

[Chocol8]

I wonder if the Holcomb being pretty far outside of their normal spec has anything to do with it? The 20 inch radius is vastly different, but you'd think they'd have a process to sort that out.

Both WMI in Korea and Cort in Indonesia make a very wide variety of guitars at a wide range of quality and price points. Neither SHOULD have any issue with the specs, but it depends on what the brand has spaced and paid for including how much QC and also how much oversight they are providing, including their own QC.

 

[RandomGuy]

I also just got the Holcomb SE six string delivered. Out of the box the finish is very good, but the binding at the neck pocket was botched and there looks like dust from the fretboard is stuck along the binding up and own the neck. Not super easy to notice and I don't really care about those things. I can probably sand the sloppy corner of the binding at the pocket down if I wanted.

The setup was the typically absurd nearly 2.0mm action height I get every single time I get an Indo. Once I adjust that to my preference and added some neck relief it's clear that this one has the same issues as pretty much every other Indo I've ever owned: poorly leveled frets. Open 3rd string is making a sitar sound and I can't figure out if it's the bridge or the first fret being too high/nut being cut too low.

I'm gonna have my guitar guy have a closer look at this and tell me what he thinks. If it only needs a fret level and polish, I'll keep it. If the nut needs work I'll probably send it back.

The thing that's crazy is that these PRS SEs are so good when the frets are sorted out and everything is setup correctly. So good that even though I know they should be coming to me better than they are, I don't mind buying them on a 20% discount and then getting them setup perfectly to my tastes with the money I saved.

That makes me 1/8 on Cor-Tek Indos out of the box. I genuinely wonder how much effort is even put into getting the frets level at this complex. There are so many different factories at the complex and different brands being made at different buildings, but one thing that I've seen consistently across all the brands I've tried is piss poor QC, specifically with fretwork. This PRS SE is the last one I buy from Indonesia. The volume they're doing at this complex clearly comes at the cost of the finer points being done correctly. I'm sticking with Korean WMI-made and Japanese-made from here on out.

 

[paisleywookiee]

I wonder if the Holcomb being pretty far outside of their normal spec has anything to do with it? The 20 inch radius is vastly different, but you'd think they'd have a process to sort that out.

Dunno. The Chleos I've seen thus far have been perfect, and those are even more outside the realm of SE normalcy.

 

[RandomGuy]

Fair point. I was wondering about those and was even thinking to myself that there is no way they're gonna be able to send those out with the fretwork and QC issues that I've seen with the Holcombs. Two grand to have to go and pay somebody to do a fretjob? No way that'll sell. But for the models costing around 1100 USD or below?

Random side note: the shitty binding on the Holcombs isn't even worth doing. Just added time and expense without it being done all that well. Doesn't really add anything to the aesthetic. I'd even go as far as saying it contrasts too much with the overall theme of its design. It would look much better just left with the ebony exposed.

 

[RandomGuy]

Further update: Holcomb 6 is a dud. Sending it back. I also talked with the sales rep I dealt with on this purchase and she's said that she's recently been seeing a significant uptick in QC issues in the feedback from customers about the PRS SE stuff. I've reached my breaking point with Cor-Tek. I'm just avoiding it all outright unless I have one in my hand know it's done correctly.

 

[paisleywookiee]

and she's said that she's recently been seeing a significant uptick in QC issues in the feedback from customers about the PRS SE stuff.

really sorry to hear you've had so many issues, but this hasn't been my experience at all.

 

[RandomGuy]

really sorry to hear you've had so many issues, but this hasn't been my experience at all.

Much appreciated. Sweetwater sent me a return label even after helping cover the cost of getting the frets leveled. I put the thing down for a few days and then came back to it. I took the saddles off the bridge and lo and behold, there were burs behind the string resting point on 4 of the 6 saddles and a few of the intonation screws were stripped. I filed down the saddles, put them back on, and set the bridge up again and boom, sitar-like sound is gone. I decided I'm going to keep it after all. It's been a pain in the ass, but damn does it play and sound good now that I've gotten it sorted out.

One thing worth keeping at eye on is the wear on the bridge. The saddles had pretty big grooves worn into them and the action adjustment screws had already worn out grooves in the plate they rest on below. This thing is dated for October 2025, so I wasn't expecting that much wear on the bridge. Sweetwater is reaching out to PRS to have them send me new saddles and screws. I can't fault them, they have worked with me beyond what I expected for a guitar in this price range that was 20% off to start.

I will say that the my seven string feels and plays better than this six string version. I also think the Scarlet and Scourge pickups sound better on the seven string than the six.